Written by Paul Jan Zdunek, COO at Miller Kaplan, an Instructor at UCLA and a Partner at Tipping Point Strategists. Paul is proud to be an advocate for SOL reform and for legislative change in Maryland. **Content warning: this blog may contain content that could trigger some readers.** My...
The History of Children’s Rights
CHILD USA is working every day to ensure that children have a seat at the policy table to ensure their rights are protected. But why is this something we need to fight for? At the founding of our country, only the rights of a select few were included in the protections written by our Founding...
Jason Berry – The Sean P. McIlmail Hero Award
A prolific, pioneering writer and documentary filmmaker, Jason Berry’s work to reveal the Catholic Church’s cover-up of widespread sexual abuse has encompassed a good portion of his professional life. As he says, “I have worked at trying to understand the two major stories of my life: New Orleans,...
CHILD USA is Shining a Light on the Institutional Failure in the Catholic Church’s Diocese with Child Sex Abuse
In 2002, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team broke a story that would unleash an avalanche of disturbing revelations about the catholic church. For decades, thousands of children had been sexually abused by priests – men in positions of power, prestige, and trust. Catholic leaders often knew about...
Gretchen Carlson – The Barbara Blaine Trailblazer Award
Gretchen Carlson had no inkling that she would ignite a movement when she sued Roger Ailes, then chairman and CEO of Fox News for sexual harassment in the workplace. In fact, she thought she would be sitting at home crying her eyes out for the rest of her life, having lost the career in which...
On Educational Neglect – Amanda Lorentson’s CHILD USA Story
This blogpost was written for CHILD USA by Amanda Lorentson, a survivor of educational neglect. Despite the immense obstacles in her path, Amanda went on to attend an Ivy League law school and is currently an attorney for Kline & Specter, a prestigious...
Preventing Educator Sexual Misconduct: Insights from CHILD USA’s Collaboration with VCU
This blog was written on March 11, 2024 by AJ Ortiz, CHILD USA Social Science Director CHILD USA is partnering with Virginia Commonwealth University on a CDC-sponsored research project regarding sexual abuse in schools. Working together with the nation’s leading expert on abuse in schools, Dr....
Advancing the Right to Education in 2024 and Beyond
Torah Bontrager was born and raised traditional Amish and escaped at age 15. In 2018, she founded The Amish Heritage Foundation, which is a nonprofit committed to empowering Amish women and children through education past the 8th grade and fostering public awareness about the crises hidden in...
A 2023-24 SOL Reform Snapshot from CHILD USA
Written on December 14, 2023, by Marci A. Hamilton, Founder and CEO, CHILD USA 2023 has been a good year for child sex abuse (CSA) statutes of limitation (SOL) reform, but not a banner year. Here’s a quick rundown of the SOL picture right now. In 2023, as you can see in our SOL Tracker, 15 states...